When people water the garden or wash cars by using a rubber hose, they connect one end of the inlet connector of the rubber hose with the tap, so that water will flow out from the other end of the spray connector of the rubber hose. But after using, the scattered hose is not easy to tidy up and store. Recently, there has been proposed a flat water spray hose, having reduced volume in the flat condition. However, this does not reduce the length of the rubber hose. Therefore, the long water spray hose is still not easy to tidy up and store.
As shown in FIG. 1, the two ends of a conventional flat water spray hose (10) are connected to an inlet connector (20) and a spray connector (not shown in FIG. 1) separately. The inlet connector (20) is connected with the tap (22) by an adapter (21), so that the water can spray out the spray connector at the other end of the water spray hose (10). The connection of the flat water spray hose (10) and the inlet connector (20) is accomplished by inserting the end of the water spray hose (10) through the holding casing pipe (23), and then connected tightly with a cylindrical spray nozzle (201). Then the shell toggle (24) and a screw collar (25) are used outside of the holding casing pipe (23) to connect the water spray hose (10) to inlet connector (20). However, the shell toggle (24) can not fix the water spray hose (10) strongly. When the water pressure is too strong, the water spray hose (10) will separate from the inlet connector (20). This is defect of the conventional inlet connector (20).
In addition, FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 show a further problem with a conventional flat water spray hose (10). The two flat folding points (A) at the two edges of the inner rubber hose (11) and the outer nylon fiber hose (12) are not stable. After numerous rolling of the water spray hose (10), the inner hose (11) and the outer hose (12) will be deformed and displaced to the configuration shown in FIG. 3. This not only causes the water spray hose (10) to unwind when rolling, but also damages the water spray hose (10) because the residual water in the hose can not be squeezed out and the foul water corrodes the interior of the hose. This is a drawback of the conventional flat water spray hose (10).
Because of the defective design on the conventional flat water spray hose (10) and the conventional inlet connector (20), the inventor devised an improved foldable flat hose, as shown and described in a U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 09/092,302 titled An Improved Structure of a Water Spray Hose Device, filing date Jun. 5, 1998.
However, the inventor found that there are different caliber outdoor taps in different countries. In order to match different sizes of caliber, differently sized inlet connectors and parts are necessary. This increased cost is very inconvenient. Because the water pressure in Europe and America are stronger than in Asia, the outdoor taps in Europe and America are threaded. The inlet connectors used in these areas are internally threaded to fix the inlet connector with the outdoor tap and to avoid the inlet connector being separated from the tap because of the strong water pressure. But the threaded inlet connector used in Europe and America can not be used in Asia, because the inlet connector used in Asia is not threaded. Therefore, the manufacturer needs to supply the different areas inlet connectors with different sizes, with or without threads. This will increase the manufacturing cost, and this is why the inventor provides the present invention to improve the above situation. By this invention, the user can not only conveniently tidy up and store the water spray hose, but also the inlet connector can be used on any size tap, whether the tap is threaded or unthreaded. It increases the practicability and convenience of the water spray hose.